Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva achieved a dramatic comeback on Sunday, securing re-election victory, yet his opponent Flavio Bolsonaro would not accept defeat and declared he would seek to have the vote annulled.
Lula’s win meant Brazil held off a conservative surge that has swept numerous countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru all of which have moved to the right with backing from US President Donald Trump.
The left-wing icon, who turns 81 on Tuesday, surpassed expectations to claim an unprecedented fourth term.
Official results show he took 51.8 per cent of the vote against 48.2 per cent for Flavio Bolsonaro, with Lula drawing roughly 4.4 million more votes.
The senator is the son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup after losing to Lula in the country’s previous election in 2022.
Sunday’s voting was thrown into confusion after a Supreme Court ruling extended balloting by two hours, even though some polling stations had already closed.
The decision came at Lula’s request, after he complained that buses had been withdrawn from circulation in various cities, preventing citizens from voting.
Flavio Bolsonaro likewise sought an extension in some areas because of heavy rain, but he called the decision “unacceptable” and a “dirty trick.”
“It is impossible to recognize the results. I am going to request the annulment of these elections,” he said, in a brief speech in Brasília.
Since 1989, the first direct election after the end of the country’s military dictatorship, no candidate who lost the first round has gone on to win the second in Brazil.
“People went to vote because we managed to convince them that voting was very important for ensuring democracy in the country,” Lula said in his first comments after the win.
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Fireworks and vuvuzelas sounded across Rio de Janeiro, as thousands dressed in red—the color of Lula’s Workers’ Party poured into the streets of Sao Paulo to celebrate.
Following the first-round defeat, the left sprang into action with huge rallies, proclaiming “Never Again Bolsonaro” and overhauling their social media strategy.
The abstention rate dropped compared with the first round, going from 21 per cent to 19 per cent.
Julio Canelo, 42, a lawyer celebrating in Rio de Janeiro, praised the win as a victory for “the entire democratic spectrum.”
“It came about because the people mobilized, both in the streets and online,” he told AFP.
An intense social media battle pulled in Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, which Lula’s campaign accused of giving his opponent an edge through “algorithmic manipulation.”
Meta rejected the claim but conceded that some of Lula’s campaign ads had been switched off by mistake because of technical errors.
After his win, Lula said of social media companies: “We are going to have to regulate them.”
A rancorous campaign marked by scandals and mudslinging exposed the deep divisions that have troubled Brazil over the past decade.
Lula enters a fourth term with nearly half the country having rejected him and eager for change.
He rose out of poverty to become president in 2003 and won re-election in 2006.
Lula made a dramatic comeback to office in the 2022 elections after a corruption scandal left him jailed for more than 18 months.
The charges were annulled on procedural grounds.
During his third term, Lula presided over falling inflation and unemployment and lifted millions out of hunger, yet many voters felt pessimistic about the high cost of living and crime.
Bolsonaro, 45, presented himself as more moderate and cheerful than his father and succeeded in energizing conservatives as well as less ideological voters who wanted something new.
“We’re in a deep hole; things are dire. People can barely afford to eat, buying meat is out of the question,” said Tereza Cristina Ramos, a 68-year-old retiree who voted in Rio de Janeiro.
Lula, already among the world’s oldest leaders, will be 85 when his new term ends in 2030.
He also faces a hostile Congress dominated by the right.
Lula’s campaign placed heavy emphasis on sovereignty in the face of commercial and diplomatic pressure from Trump’s United States.
“This country will not accept being anyone’s backyard,” he said on Sunday.
Lula was congratulated by Chile’s far-right president, Jose Antonio Kast, and Ecuador’s right-wing Daniel Noboa, both close Trump allies.
Mexico’s left-wing President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote, X, “Long live democracy; the people of Brazil won.”
